Young Life Benefit Concert at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church

Arin and Jasmine Luke, the new urban Young Life staffers

It’s been a big, big weekend! The new video for God Loved the World was released on Monday, and I am so excited about it. Godbeat.tv did an exclusive premiere of it, and we heard after the fact that it had something like 3500 views that day alone. So fun! I hope you will share it with all your friends – it’s the Gospel in 4 minutes. Check it out here:

Also, this past Sunday we had an awesome night celebrating Young Life in Columbus. Young Life is one of my favorite ministries – they are all over the world and they reach out to high school kids in the name of Christ. I have seen so many teens meet the Lord through this organization. In fact, my dad, Dave Chilcoat, started it here in Columbus (that’s why I grew up here), I was on staff with them in New York for a while, and now my brother Mike runs the metro area here in Columbus. I was so excited to get to do something for this awesome ministry.

They launched a new urban initiative this year, and so we heard from Arin and Jasmine Luke who are heading up that area, and we also did a sneak peak of the video – there were several Young Life leaders in it, so I wanted to thank them and let them be the first to see it. It was a great night – thanks to all who came and to Upper Arlington Lutheran for hosting us!

Monday I also got to do a radio interview for one of my favorite stations, WAFT in Valdosta, GA, so a big shout out to you too!

With the Japanese missionaries at Faith Covenant in Detroit

Incredible South Carolina beaches - we love you!

The Angel Oak - said to be the oldest living thing East of the Mississippi

Leading worship at UALC's XALT services

Sorry it’s been a while since posting – I’ve been traveling here there and everywhere, and took a trip with my family in between – had a great time.

First we all went up to Michigan to visit my husband’s family and let the kids have a few days with their grandparents. Then Nathan and I went back down to Faith Covenant in the Detroit area and I did the worship on their services in the morning. I’ve been there several times, and it’s always a joy to be with them! We also got to meet some new missionaries who have come to Detroit from Japan to minister to the large Japanese speaking population working in Detroit. Then home again and a surprisingly busy couple of days without kids (what would it have been like if they were home?!), a few interviews, and I drove back up to get them.

One day home and we left for a really great family vacation in South Carolina. We have been so extremely busy this summer, we really needed the down time and time to just be a family. It was a great mix of doing fun stuff and doing nothing, the best kind.

The day after we got home I sat in with the worship band and did some special music on the services at Upper Arlington Lutheran’s XALT services in Columbus. I’ll be doing a concert there next weekend to benefit Columbus Young Life, so it was great to raise awareness for that benefit, and fun to do something in my own home town!

Then straight into the start of school. Why does the summer go so fast? I love my kiddos and it always seems to fly by. It was a good end to the summer, but I wish it weren’t over so fast!

On the jumbo-tron

My kids watching, who have no clue that the president and one of the owners are right behind them.

Even the parrot removed his hat.

Watching from the outdoor seats at the owner's box

Last Tuesday I got such a fun opportunity – I got to take my family to Pittsburgh so that I could sing the National Anthem for the Pirates/Reds games at PNC Park.

What you probably don’t know is that my parents met at the University of Pittsburgh, and my dad grew up outside of Pittsburgh in Mt. Lebanon. His neighbor and best friend was the son of the former owner of the Pirates, and he spent many, many games watching from the owners box. Pittsburgh sports were huge for my dad – to the point that the stats for the Steelers and the Pirates are an appendix in his book! In my house growing up, not rooting for the Pirates or Steelers was going to get you beaten up by your brothers. So this had a great family connection for me.

We got in that afternoon and did a sound check. Before the game we all got field passes, and my family got to come down on the field to watch me sing. Afterwards, we met the president of the Pirates, Frank Coonelly, and we had dinner with one of the owners, Robert Brooks. After dinner, Robert and his wife, Sue, gave us a tour of the stadium and we got to see the owner’s box and club – the kids had a fabulous time. The game was also rain-delayed, so by the time we got back to our seats, we hadn’t even missed much!

What a great night. The only problem was missing my dad, and my mom and I were both commenting how much he would have loved being there and seeing that. Miss you, Dad.

They’ve asked me back for next year, and I say, hey, take me out to the ballgame!